The seller probably knows it's a scam. These kinds of fake Alembics all seem to originate somewhere in the south(usually Texas-area). The people at the Alembic club are usually quick to alert one of the alembic folks which leads to the auction getting cancelled pretty fast. Usually.

But, that's the scam. So few people know what an Alembic looks like, or heck, what an Alembic is. The scame is to put Alembic Elan or Rogue or something on the headstock, take it into a pawn shop, and say you need to pawn it. They look at the Blue Book (usually bereft of pictures) and see that the "Alembic" you have is worth XXXX. They give you the money, you walk out with a lot of money.

Of course, with the Internet making such things much more easily looked at, the scam doesn't really work out so much any more.

Yes, that is in fact an Alembic. What many people don't realize is that Alembic has found a way to utilize trees that are still living and growing. You spec out the bass to how you want it to look when it matures and Alembic will harvest a sapling and create your dreambass. When you get it, it'll look something like this......

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Then, after a year or two of watering and faithful restringing (start with 30" scale strings and watch it grow to a full 35" scale!!)

You'll wind up with something like ......

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This one is 5 years old. You can tell by counting the purpleheart stripes.